Developing a novel preparation to analyze the onset of derived stimulus relations

Abstract

The experimental analysis of derived stimulus relations is a critical research area. A training-then-testing preparation nearly always is used to study derived relations. In the training phase, participants learn the relevant baseline discriminations via differential consequences (e.g., AB and AC relations). In the testing phase, they are presented with probe trials in the absence of differential consequences (e.g., BA and CA symmetry trials and BC and CB equivalence trials). High accuracy levels sometimes are observed from the start of testing such that it is unclear whether the participants learned these relations before testing. The present experiment reports data from a novel preparation that monitors the development of derived relations as trained relations are acquired. Three college students were presented with both training trials (AB, AC) and testing trials (BA, CA, BC, CB) in every session from the start of experimentation. Each participant learned each of the six discriminations by the end of experimentation. Most importantly, they learned the trained and symmetrical relations in close temporal proximity and the equivalence relations only after learning the symmetrical relations. These results are consistent with several findings demonstrating disparities between learning different forms of derived relational responding. The results validate the utility of the present preparation in the experimental analysis of derived relational learning.